Posted 3 years ago on June 28, 2012, 2:01 p.m. EST by foreeverLeft
(-264)
This content is user submitted and not an official statement

Starting in 2014:You will have the option of buying a health plan through your state's exchange with federal assistance. Based on your income, your annual premiums for that plan would be no more than $2,576 to $3,040. Your maximum out-of-pocket costs for deductibles and co-payments would be capped at 30 percent of the total cost.

Insurers can’t discriminate against you for having a pre-existing condition, and can only vary rates within a narrow range.

If you do not obtain insurance coverage by 2014 you will be assessed a tax penalty. The penalty becomes progressively greater from 2014 through 2016, when it reaches full strength. At that point, assuming your current income remains the same and your household consists of 1 uninsured adult, you would be subject to a penalty of about $695. You are exempt from the penalty if the least expensive plan option in your area exceeds eight percent of your income.

36 Comments

A gift to the insurance industry and all of their shareholders - we can not allow the government to partner with the insurance industry and mandate that we comply with the policies and prices set by a private business. This is outrageous. I live in MA - I have had insurance for ten years and only seen the doctor a handful of times because the cop-pays and deductibles are too high for me to afford. I'm a secretary who could die on Obama Care while others in my state get everything lock stock an barrel paid for and only make a little less than I do. Most people paying for insurance in the lower wage scales don't have the extra for out of pocket costs but pay we will pay for all those people that get it for free and pay all of those costs which were determined by the insurance industry. I was fined for changing jobs and having a lag in coverage (you see most insurance doesn't kick in right away when you start a new job) So pay up buttercup - the insurance industry and all the deadbeats need your help. Forget all the old folks too - insurance and Obama think they're just a drain on the system - probably that lack of medication will speed it up for them (productivity folks - that's all that matters in this screwed up country anymore - output - make people rich with all your hard work while you end up dead with nothing) Then you know you did your job.

Exactly - people come to accept a cost ratio as something they can't change because it has been set but once broken down, the insidious greed is laid bare. What is the markup on a product? How many hours must you work to cover it? Does a cost of jeans or shoes that was made for 200 % less than you paid take a days or weeks to pay for? When that analysis is the norm over just pulling out the wallet or working more hours - nothing can happen but a revolution.

I am not as smart as you hope I am. I think to get from point A to point B, we have to break Einstein's maxim, "Everything should be as simple as possible but not simpler." It goes against the grain for me to not tell the whole truth but but it is hard to underestimate the American citizen's knowledge and attention.

That said, the path goes through Medicare. Everybody knows somebody on Medicare. And most of them are happy and if you had reasonable sounding solutions to the problems with it that annoy them from time to time, they would trust you to improve it. Big improvements are the things I mentioned above plus some more that I know but didn't dig into and I am willing to include others that people can and will offer.

Once the private insurers domino falls, the rest are lined up. Don't forget that the industry has seen these changes in other countries, since they are global.
They learn and we learn from others experience. What is bad is they have and we haven't.

hchc is right - universal care is a tax pool - this is just tax thievery where you get nothing in return for your money (because the insurance industry is betting against you and hoping you die plus thwarting any chance you may see a doctor with co-pays that will sink you - not too mention dictating to the doctors how they will treat you as the final measure against using any of the "product" you pay for)

Look closely at the standards for coverage in the insurance exchanges: The minimal, or bronze, insurance option allows out-of-pocket spending of up to $12,500 for a family of four. The actuarial value is 60 percent, which means, very roughly, that the plan only covers about 60 percent of the average person's medical bills. Those are some pretty high deductibles! I haven't made the apples-to-apples comparison and I don't know anybody who has, but I'm pretty sure the overall exposure is comparable to what you get in a Health Savings Account, which is the model that conservatives generally say they want [...]

Now, the Affordable Care Act does mitigate the effect of high cost sharing in a few
crucial ways. Under the law, even the bronze plans will include the benefits in the basic, government-defined package -- with no annual or lifetime limits on total claims paid. That's a vast improvement over the present individual market, in which policies can have huge, hidden gaps that leave unsuspecting consumers paying bills they'd assumed were covered.

More important, the exchanges will have subsidies to offset both the premiums and
cost-sharing for people who make less money. So poorer people would never face anything like $12,000 in out-of-pocket expenses; that's the reason I can live with the high deductibles.

My impression was always that conservatives weren't looking to stick lower income people with cost-sharing they really couldn't afford. What they wanted was cost-sharing severe enough to impose some price discipline on the system, which the Affordable Care Act would seem to do.

Oh wow! Remember yesterday when any emergency room had to treat you by law? Obamacare changes that and now if you aren't paying for Obamacare and have no money it's "optional" for hospitals to care for you!

If you don't have Obamacare you will lay in a stretcher in the hall until they get around to you, hope you didn't cut an artery! :)

The best part is if you don't actually use your insurance then you won't be exposed to the 30% copays and deductibles. I mean it would suck to have a serious medical event at 300k and end up owing the government 90 large and have the IRS after you for the rest of your life! Man! That would suck!

Your a liar. Your fear mongering antics along with your fearless leaders won't work this time. I heard this circus will only have a limited so you best get your clown suit on and join your friends now before it's too late.

People over profits. People over profits. People over profits. People over profits. People over profits. People over profits. People over profits. People over profits. People over profits. People over profits. People over profits. People over profits. People over profits. People over profits.

Stand-up speak-up stand-up for your rights.

People over profits. People over profits. People over profits. People over profits. People over profits. People over profits. People over profits. People over profits. People over profits. People over profits. People over profits. People over profits. People over profits. People over profits.

Written in the stars - I like that. As I do believe in God. ( sorry for those of you who do not - no offense intended ).

People over profits. World over profits. People over profits. World over profits. People over profits. World over profits. People over profits. World over profits. People over profits. World over profits. People over profits. World over profits. People over profits. World over profits. People over profits. World over profits. People over profits. World over profits.

Money is only a tool, or an extension of ourselves, and I think many have neglected that idea. Money is good if it is used to do good. Many people get rich off of raping the environment, which is the opposite of good. Money itself is neutral, it matters only what purpose it's used for. And as we know, many humans can't handle too much of it, or they too become corrupted by it. Therein lies the problem with the money. Greed.